Thanks Peggy!

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Peggy from Peggy's Closet awarded me a versatile blogger award.  How kind!  I thought I had lost touch with Peggy after having to move my blog because of nasty links that I couldn't fix.  It's nice to have found each other again.  Peggy sews some gorgeous clothes for both her and her daughter.  Sadly, there are a still a handful of blogs I haven't found yet.  Perhaps, they have disappeared.  People do come and go from this game.

This award like all awards has rules about passing it on like a chain letter, etc.  Well, ok, but I am not going to do that.  The purpose of it, like all of these awards is to pull people around the blogosphere increasing traffic and helping people find new blogs.  All well and good.  So, without making too many judgements, I am simply going to list the blogs I enjoy following, that have posted something in the last month and also have fewer than 100 followers.  These are either new blogs that you haven't noticed yet, or, diamonds in the rough that really, you should have noticed!

http://meli88a.blogspot.com/
http://beurreblanc.wordpress.com/
http://sewskateread.blogspot.com/
http://el-little.blogspot.com/
http://upsewlate.blogspot.com/
http://sewessentiallysew.blogspot.com/
http://studioirene.blogspot.com/
http://chanelno6.blogspot.com/
http://countrygirlcouture.wordpress.com/
http://designrefinebemine.blogspot.com/
http://sewingandstyle.blogspot.com/
http://sewivebeenthinking.blogspot.com/
http://straightstitched.blogspot.com/
http://sunshineandsewing.blogspot.com/
http://mysummertouch.blogspot.com/
http://sewmytime.blogspot.com/
http://escapadesinsewing.blogspot.com/
http://www.21wale.com/
http://scheybutta.blogspot.com/
http://adressmaker.blogspot.com/
http://jillybejoyful.blogspot.com/
http://sewmentalmama.blogspot.com/

Oh dear!  And these are just the lower traffic sites!  I obviously read pretty widely.  It just works out to a handful of new posts a day, which I check out while eating lunch.  If you are also the kind of person who would rather read a blog than a magazine, here is a stack of ones you might of missed.  There's bound to be one or two that are keepers for ya!

Finally, I hope I haven't missed anyone.  It is not my intention to snub anyone.  As far as I am concerned the sewing blog world is far from over-crowded.  Not everyone makes the number of "followers" on their blog obvious, so I may have guessed you were more "popular" than you are and left you off!

Faux Fur Vest for Basics Sew Along

A faux fur vest is next in line for the sew along.  I think I will skip the faux fur vest, and try to, gulp, repair my real sheepskin vest.  I was cooking and draining fat off of ground meat, when PLOP!  The meat slid down into the pool of fat and splashed me like a tidal wave.  We keep a cold house, and I found I wore this vest quite a lot after making it.  Even indoors.  You sharp pencils in the box are probably shouting at the computer screen, "Make an apron you dummy!"  I have two lovely aprons.  I just don't always remember to put them on.

An overall impression of the problem.

A close up of the damage.

I don't think it can be cleaned.  It is really soaked in.  I compounded the problem by trying to "fix it" with washing up liquid/dishwashing liquid.

Of course I saved all the precious scraps from this project.  Now, I hope I can patch something together that will look intentional.  Frankly, I don't have any inspiration for how to do this yet.  Feel free to give pushy advice.  I'm at a loss, and really want to save this one.

Shhhhh...it's a Surprise!

The Sewing

My youngest daughter is turning 5 next month.  She wanted me to sew her a dress.  How could I resist?  My oldest has already outgrown the type of girly-girl dresses that are so fun and easy to sew, made out of well behaved woven cotton.  The fabric came from Dots and Stripes, always a pleasure to deal with and on sale this time, woohoo!

I used Burda 6-2010-147, as a starting point.  But, I made a few changes.  I omitted the buttons and opted for shirring instead.  Florence, at Flossie Tea Cakes, has a very good to tutorial on sheering. I found it hard to believe that hand winding, thick elastic thread around my bobbin would ever end well, but it was a snap!

Front view.

My dirndl skirt is fuller than Burda'a, the fabric I used was 145cm/56" wide and I used 2 full widths.  My strips were 12" long, so the finished skirt is probably about 10 1/2" long.  I also added some dark, pink ric-rac to the hem.  Here is a tutorial for adding ric-rac to a hem with lots of nice pictures.

Back view with shirring.

To change the bodice for shirring, I used the front pattern piece as it was designed, but dropped the back.  I lined up the pattern pieces and used a rotary cutter to make a clean, straight line at the top, removing all the armscye.  I think shirring with a curved arm hole would be very difficult, if even possible.  When cutting out the back piece, rather than putting the centre back on the fold, I moved it 3 inches away from the fold, carefully using a quilter's ruler to make sure the pattern stayed straight. This way the width of the back was increased to allow for the shirring.

Here is how I modified the pattern.  Click on the picture to enlarge.

Post script on Previous Sewing


Regarding the black ponte trousers I made from Burda 01-2012-120, I still stand by the pattern, but I am disappointed with the fabric I chose.  I took the pants with me on a three day weekend and after wearing them several times, they stretched out a bit.  They haven't snapped back fully after washing, either.  Also, there is pilling on the inside upper thighs.  Sigh.  I bought the fabric from TissuFabric.  I used the very same fabric for a Butterick dress that I have worn many times, and the dress has worn well.  But for something with negative ease, this fabric just doesn't have the stretch recovery.


My goofy, harem pants have actually had a lot of wear.  They fit nicely over bike shorts, and the close cut ankles means they can't get caught in a bike chain.  I even wore them to play badminton with friends!  I keep using them because they are comfortable and surprising practical and easy to move in.  However, whenever I wear them, I feel ridiculous.  So, today, I went and bought some rtw yoga pants.  I just couldn't keep doing this to my family and friends who have to be seen with me, lol.

Personal Stuff

My husband and I had a three day weekend in Wales without the children.  This is the first time we have done that since the eldest was born 8 years ago!  It was nice to find out that we still had things to talk about and liked each other's company.  We stayed at a lovely B&B, Ffynnon, and did some hiking and good eating.  For such a wild, rugged place the food was remarkable, just superb really.  

There were hardly any tourists about.  Maybe because it was February?  Don't know.  I would highly recommend a trip to Wales to anyone.  Romatic castles, challenging hikes, the best mountain biking in Britian, a thriving gastro scene, and friendly people who still speak their own ancient language, but will talk to you in English without making you feel like a twit.

What I did Valentine's Day
On the way to Penygadair, the peak of Cadair Idris.  

Black Ponte Trousers; Wardrobe Basics SewAlong

I finally got my Burda 01-2012-120 black ponte pants finished.  I traced out a 40 everywhere except for the back leg pieces where I traced a 42.  This was a much smaller size than Burda recommended, but I wanted to make sure there was negative ease.  

I followed Sandra Betzina's wonderful video on Threads for how to insert a flyfront zip.  But I was at a loss for how to neatly work the facing around the zip.  In the end it's a bit of a mess, and I did a lot of hand sewing.  Most of my experience with sewing pants is through Burda Style Magazine.  So I've never really had clear instructions for how to do things properly.  I think I got away with this one in the end.  

It was a good pattern, everything came together nicely.  I would only say that the pants were a little short.  I am 5'6", and I added 1" and 5/8" for the hems.  In the end, I only turned them up 7/8" for the hems because I felt they were short.

These are the perfect, comfy trousers for layering in winter.  I would never, ever wear them with a short boxy jacket or a tucked in shirt with no long layer in the back.  I'll leave that for those with more athletic figures than mine!

This is how I would actually wear them.

Just to show you the details of how they fit.  I consider posting this picture, "taking one for the team."

Thank goodness only the sewing sorority reads this blog!

Now to move on to the faux fur vest!

You may say Pyjamas, but I say Workout Wear!

I am supposed to be sewing ponte knit pants for Lori's sew along. I am procrastinating. In part because I am in dire need of winter exercise gear and in part because I gained a significant amount of weight and don't want to contemplate the size I now need to sew or the new adjustments that I will have to figure out.

I picked Burdastyle 4/2011-118 because it was long sleeved, loose, and made of stretchy material.  In no way did I find it cute or intriguing or whatever.  I just needed a top for yoga and power plates.  Turns out I really like it.  It is comfortable, a doddle to sew, and more flattering than I anticipated.  Hurray!  The hardest part was cutting out the super long arms.  So, not difficult at all.

Burda 4/2011-118. I was surprised how much I liked this on me. Usually raglan, or dolman sleeves, like these, aren't so good on my pear shaped figure, but I really thought this shirt was OK.

I added a line of bright pink top stitching to the horizontal bust seam using the triple stretch stick setting on my Janome. It adds interest on a plain black shirt.

Then it was time for pants.  I went for Burdastyle 1/2011-124.  Again, I was going for function over form.  In this case, they are comfortable; they weren't difficult to sew; and they look about as silly on me as I thought they might!  That's OK though, I don't find those skin-tight legging-thingies all that flattering either.  It's nice to have something that isn't clingy for those times, when I feel like a little "space" and "privacy."

Ah, the pants.  A bit goofy looking on me, but perfect for yoga class. I'd love to give you the full effect of them on me, but until the days get longer, we are stuck with my dress form.

I made a significant change to the pants.  I used black ribbing fabric for the yoke rather than self fabric as per the pattern, and was then able to forget the zipper.  How can active-wear have a zipper, where you are bending and stretching?  Crazy.

I used a double over edge stitch in pink to finish off my ribbing.  I thought it added a little pizzazz.  I didn't feel the lettuce leaf effect went too far. I figure the pants are already questionable style wise, so why not go for broke?

Final thought, I probably won't wear these to pieces together, despite the same fabric and pink accents.  Together they just look a little too billowy and a little too much like pjs!